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While political junkies have been watching the Republican circular firing squad in DC, FL Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a barn burner inaugural speech after his re-election to the state house.
Flanked by his wife and three children, DeSantis took the oath of office using the “Bible of the Revolution.” It’s a historic Bible that the Congress in 1782 had commissioned, and the version that the Founders had used. The use of this Bible also embodied the essence of the Florida governor’s speech: Freedom.
The governor began his speech extolling the liberty that residents find in the Sunshine State:
“Freedom lives here, in our great Sunshine State of Florida!”
He went on to boast of how his state has offered freedom to citizens of other states whose governments overreached with Covid restrictions:
“Over the past few years, as so many states in our country grinded their citizens down, we in Florida lifted our people up.”
“When other states consigned their people’s freedom to the dustbin, Florida stood strongly as freedom’s linchpin.”
“When the world lost its mind – when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue – Florida was a refuge of sanity, a citadel of freedom for our fellow Americans and even for people around the world.”
DeSantis evoked what he called the “sacred fire of liberty” throughout American history:
“It is the fire that burned in Independence Hall, when fifty six men pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to establish a new nation conceived in liberty. It’s the fire that burned at a cemetery in Gettysburg, when the nation’s first Republican president pledged to this nation a new birth of freedom.”
“It’s the fire that burned among the boys who stormed the beaches of Normandy, to liberate a continent and to preserve freedom for the world. It’s the fire that infused the young preacher’s dream, relayed at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, that the Declaration of Independence said what it meant and meant what it said: All men are created equal.”
“It is the fire that led a resolute president to stand in Berlin and declare ‘Tear down this wall,’ staring down the communists and winning the Cold War.”
Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, 1987. US National Archives/wikimedia commons/CC BY-SA 3.0.
Gov. DeSantis told the assembled crowd how his four previous years in office delivered for the people of Florida. Things like ensuring that residents would be taxed and regulated lightly, and that spending would be minimal. That true jurists would serve on the state supreme court, not activists. That education reform would continue. And law enforcement would supported.
Then, after the devastations brought by Hurricane Michael, the response and the rebuilding progressed at an unheard-of rapid rate.
And the results? Let Gov. DeSantis tell it:
“Because of these efforts and others, Florida is leading the nation:”
“We are #1 in these United States in net in-migration”
“Florida is the #1 fastest growing state”
“We are #1 in new business formations”
“Florida is #1 in tourism”
“We are #1 in economic freedom”
“Florida is #1 in education freedom”
“And we rank #1 in parental involvement in education”
“Florida also ranks #1 in public higher education”
As for trendy progressive ideology? Well …
“We reject this woke ideology.”
“We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy!”
“We will not allow reality, facts, and truth to become optional.”
“We will never surrender to the woke mob.”“Florida is where woke goes to die!”
But that’s just a small portion of DeSantis’s speech. Here it is in its entirety:
I wonder if Donald Trump was watching Ron DeSantis give his inaugural speech. I’ll bet he was, and was trying to think of sophomoric invectives to use in his next speech to the MAGA faithful. After all, “Ron DeSanctimonious” is sooo yesterday.
But recent polls show Ron DeSantis either rapidly gaining on the former president or surpassing him among GOP voters. In fact, a Wall Street Journal poll from December shows him clobbering Trump by 14 points.
It’s understandable. Trump still remains obsessed with the 2020 election. He also blames members of his own base — pro-life voters — for Republican losses in the midterms:
“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the midterms. It was the abortion issue, poorly handled by many Republicans …”
No, it’s never, ever Trump’s fault for losing anything, is it? And how smart is it to kick your loyal voters to the curb?
Meanwhile Ron DeSantis is the GOP future. His inaugural speech on Tuesday proved it once again.
Featured image: Gage Skidmore @Wikimedia Commons/cropped/CC BY-SA 2.0.
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